(Image source from: www.wsj.com)
The mayor of Yuma, Arizona has declared a state of emergency concerning the immigrant surge into the city. He did so saying that his city doesn’t have the necessary resources to respond as the Border Patrol are releasing more migrants from the captives.
In an issued statement, the Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls stated saying, “There's an imminent threat of having too many migrant releases into our community, and it's above our capacity as a community to sustain.”
He further clarified stating that he and his administration are looking around for a FEMA type response that will help and support the city deal with this rapid influx altogether.
Clarifying his stances, Nicholls did say the following in one of his issued statements –
“FEMA shows up at disasters all the time. This isn't a natural disaster, but it is a disaster either way. Their resources could come in and take care of the situation and would effectively handle that.”
Even with the kind of language and tone used in this connotation, Mayor Doug Nicholls has clarified to the CNN affiliated KYMA that he doesn’t believe that the migrants are a danger to the city or the people residing in it. His goal is to get more resources to Yuma so as to ensure that they are able to help more and more refugees and migrants.
Nicholls further clarified saying that every single one of the people sent to the city undergo a strict background check followed by a health checkup. These people doesn’t necessarily just comprise of adult males, there are family units too. According to Mayor Nicholls, they aren’t expecting a large scale crime rate. Their anticipation with the local non-profit organization has crossed seam. Not just that, even the city’s migrant shelter is currently running out of space.
The Border Patrol have released over 11,000 migrant family members at either the non-governmental shelters or at the bus stations along the border since March 19, 2019.
Upon issuing the statement of the emergency, Nicholls said the following-
“It's with a heavy heart that I declare that we're at this point, but it's something that I believe we need to do to make sure our community is maintained and that the human rights of all the migrants are also maintained, and that we have a path forward that respects both.”
Yuma is situated around the south-west corner of Arizona boasting a population of over 100,000 people. This is not necessarily the very first time that the local leaders have turned down the shelters to the migrants. Even earlier this year, the Nogales City Council passed a resolution in which they condemned the placement of razor wire on the border wall running through its downtown area around.
By Somapika Dutta
